---
title: Joshua 8:4 (JPS 1917) — And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, ye shall lie in ambush again… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready. Who acts: Joshua, ye. Joshua 8:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Joshua 8:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Joshua, ye · **What happens:** command, say, lie, not go, be · **To what, where:** men, ambush · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Joshua 8:4 · JPS 1917 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Joshua, ye), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:JOS:159
# text = And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	commanded	command	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
9	Behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nsubj	_	_
12	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	ambush	ambush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
16	against	against	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
24	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
26	very	very	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	cop	_	_
34	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	36	nsubj	_	_
35	all	all	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=request, form=imp

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **command** | past | Joshua | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Joshua *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **lie** | shall | ye |  |  | ambush |  | against the city; behind the city | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in ambush=Location |
| 4 | **not** **go** | infinitive | ye *not said here* |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | infinitive | ye |  |  |  |  | all, ready *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וַיְצַ֨ו אֹתָ֜ם לֵאמֹ֗ר רְ֠אוּ אַתֶּ֞ם אֹרְבִ֤ים לָעִיר֙ מֵאַחֲרֵ֣י הָעִ֔יר אַל־תַּרְחִ֥יקוּ מִן־הָעִ֖יר מְאֹ֑ד וִהְיִיתֶ֥ם כֻּלְּכֶ֖ם נְכֹנִֽים׃

[Joshua 8:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JOS.8.4/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JOS:159` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

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